


Curveball

by kikikryslee



Series: Bottom of the Tenth [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Bottom Harry, Childhood Friends, Drunk Sex, Established Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Sequel, Smut, Top Louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-26 01:38:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10776744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikikryslee/pseuds/kikikryslee
Summary: “So when are you two getting married?”Harry froze. Shit, shit, shit, this completely went against his whole ‘keep it casual’ stance he’d been planning on keeping. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say.Louis shrugged. “I don’t know, I mean, we haven’t really discussed that.”“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “I mean, if it happens, then it happens. You know… Whatever.”Whatever?Harry thought to himself.Did I really just say ‘whatever’ to when I’m getting married? When it's all I've been thinking of for weeks?Harry couldn't believe himself. He knew he told himself to keep it casual and not put too much pressure on Louis for the idea of getting engaged, but for fuck’s sake, that was probably too casual.Does Louis think I don’t want to get married now? What if he thinks I’m not ready for it? What if I just put him off proposing even longer?He couldn’t shake the fear that he’d really just messed up.---Or, theRunner on Thirdsequel where Harry really wants to get engaged, and Louis doesn't seem to be picking up on that. Harry may or may not drop a few hints that are anything but subtle.





	Curveball

**Author's Note:**

> Look, guys! I wanted to write a sequel to a fic and I actually did! Whaaaat? It was something that I wanted to write, and it actually fit with my prompt for this week, so I figured no better time than the present. 
> 
> This fic is a sequel, but I have it on good authority that you can still understand this fic without reading the first story. You should still read Runner on Third, though, just to get the full effect. 
> 
> Just a warning: Jay has a few scenes in this fic. Not sure how everyone feels about reading about her, so I've marked them all off with double lines. Just stop reading when you get to one set, and pick up reading at the next set. She is mentioned a few times throughout the story, but I only marked off the scenes where she has actual lines. 
> 
> This fic was written as part of an ongoing challenge. We each select random numbers and are given a specific emotion from the book 1000 Feelings For Which There Are No Names. To read the other fics written in this challenge, [click here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/ShortFic_Challenge_For_Which_There_Is_No_Name/works), or you can find the masterpost on tumblr [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/159679804243/1000-feelings-for-which-there-are-no-names-prompt).
> 
> My prompt was number 738, the fear that you're taking a much too casual approach. It's literally all fluff and so self-indulgent, but oh well! I love it. Thank you to [Tabby](http://suddenclarityharry.tumblr.com/) and [Molly](http://becomeawendybird.tumblr.com/) for their beta'ing! 
> 
>  
> 
> **DO NOT post this story or any of my other stories on any other websites. I'm not comfortable with that, and I hope that you can please respect that. If you see any of my stories on another website, please let me know. I am also NOT currently authorizing translations of any of my stories at this time. I hope you can respect that, as well. Thank you!**
> 
>  
> 
> Happy reading!

**July 2006**

_“I swear, if I hear my mom yell about flowers and caterers and seating arrangements one more time, I’m moving out,” Charlie said as he, Harry, Louis, Luke and Aaron left the park after a heated game of baseball._

_He was telling his friends about the daily conversation in his house now that his mom was getting remarried._

_“You’re not moving anywhere, Hunter,” Louis told him with a laugh. “You love this shit.”_

_“I don’t love this shit! It’s so fucking annoying. Like, my mom and my sisters have been talking about patterns and material for the bridesmaid’s dresses for the last three months. I can’t take it. I just want them to go to fucking Vegas and get it done.”_

_Harry shook his head. “No you don’t.”_

_“Yes, I do,” Charlie insisted._

_“Dude, come on,” Luke said. “You know Dean’s cool. He’s good for your mom.”_

_“Yeah, but that’s not the point. I just wish the conversation would stop.”_

_Charlie was officially whining now, and Louis told him so._

_“I don’t care,” Charlie replied. “I just want it to be over with.”_

_Harry and Louis looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They all knew Charlie was really excited for his mom and future stepdad and actually was helping in the wedding planning. He just didn’t want anybody to know that._

_When the boys reached Turner Street, Harry and Louis went left while the others went straight, separating from the group._

_“You think we’ll get invited to Charlie’s mom’s wedding?” Louis asked as they walked._

_“We better,” Harry said. “After hearing all of Charlie’s complaining, I want to see how it turns out.”_

_“And I want to see him cry if he has to give a speech.”_

_“That, too.”_

_They got to Harry’s house and walked in._

_“I’m home!” Harry yelled as they made their way to the kitchen. It didn’t seem like anybody else was there, though, seeing as it was noon on a Wednesday. Anne and Robin were at work, and Gemma was probably out catching up with her friends before heading back to NYU next month._

_Harry went to the fridge and pulled out two bottles of water. He tossed one to Louis and took a long drink from his own._

_“You think you’ll ever get married, Styles?” Louis asked before opening his water._

_Harry shrugged. “I guess. If I meet the right girl, it would be all right. Don’t know if you’ll ever find someone who can deal with your shit, though, Tommo.”_

_Louis flipped him off and took a drink from his water bottle. “You’re so pleasant, Styles. I’m sure no one will be able to resist you. You and those curls.”_

_Harry laughed and ran his fingers through his sweaty hair. “Absolutely. You know it’s an excellent conversation starter.”_

_Louis snorted. “Shut up. Although, I do have a question for you.”_

_Harry raised an eyebrow, waiting for Louis to continue._

_Louis walked over and put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “Styles, will you be my best man?”_

_Harry started laughing. “It’s a little early to be asking that, isn’t it?”_

_“Nah. Not when I know you’ll always be around. Come on, man. You know it wouldn’t be right if you weren’t standing up there next to me on my wedding day.”_

_“You make it sound like we’d be marrying each other.”_

_“Fuck off. Come on. What do you say?”_

_Harry raised a hand to his face and tapped at his chin, looking like he was really pondering the question._

_Louis rolled his eyes and leaned back against the counter behind him._

_“I guess,” Harry eventually said. “But only if you’ll be mine.”_

_“Deal. Can’t wait to see the chick who actually agrees to marry you.”_

_“Oh, the feeling is mutual, my friend. The feeling is definitely mutual.”_

 

**December 2017**

 

Harry lay on his side, his head propped up on one elbow, smiling down at his beautiful boyfriend, who was fast asleep. If someone had told his sixteen-year-old self that he would soon be moving away from his hometown, causing him and his best friend to fall out of touch, meet up again ten years later, fall in love and move in together, he would’ve thought they were crazy and that there was no way he and Louis would ever _not_ be friends.

But that was exactly the case. Last September, Harry had moved back home to New Jersey after spending a decade in Seattle (as the result of his stepdad getting transferred across the country) and taken a job as a second grade teacher in an elementary school, where one of his students just happened to be Ernest Deakin, Louis’ little brother that Harry didn’t even know existed. Fast forward to last October, when Harry and Louis finally realized they actually liked each other as more than friends, again to March when Louis gave up on his search of the perfect apartment with his friend Niall and just moved in with Harry, and finally to June when they took their first vacation together, the first of – hopefully – many.

It was currently Christmas break for Harry and winter break for Louis, who had another three weeks off from his job as the Social Events Coordinator of Farrington University, the nearby state school and also Louis’ alma mater. And here they lay, early on the morning of New Year’s Eve, free to actually sleep in a little. So, of course, Harry woke up at the ass crack of dawn, his internal clock no longer allowing him to go any later. Well, that and his dream of when he and Louis were sixteen and talking about weddings and being each other’s best man. Well now, when they got married, they’d definitely both be there, but not for the reason they thought more than eleven years ago.

Harry had been having the dreams since their first anniversary at the end of October, and they had only grown in the weeks since then. At first, Harry had barely entertained the thought of getting engaged to Louis since they’d only been dating for a year. But as the days went on, Harry started feeling stranger picturing himself married to anybody _but_ Louis. Just the idea of growing old with anyone other than the boy he’d grown _up_ with seemed ludicrous. And Harry knew that Louis wanted to get married one day, but the problem was, he didn’t know if it was too soon. Sure, they’d known each other for most of their formative years, but there was still that ten-year gap where they didn’t speak a word to each other. Surely they had to be together for longer than that before making such a big decision?

Louis started shifting on the bed, scratching at his bare stomach as he slept. He lay with his mouth slightly open and his nose twitching every now and then. His hair was sticking up at odd angles and he hadn’t shaved in a few days so there was some serious stubble growing in along his jawline.

 _I want to marry you_ , Harry thought to himself. And it scared him a bit to think it, but it was true. Harry wanted to marry Louis, and he would one day. But Harry didn’t want to pressure Louis and make him feel like one of them _had_ to pop the question right away, so Harry figured he just had to let Louis get to that point himself. He wondered how long that would take.

“Stop fucking staring at me,” Louis whispered.

Harry smiled. “How long have you been awake?”

“Long enough to feel you fucking staring at me.” Louis slowly opened one eye and looked up at Harry, who wasn’t even bothering to hide his adoration. “Hi.”

“Good morning.”

“How much time do we have?” Louis asked.

“Breakfast is at eight downstairs, so we have about another hour.”

Louis nodded. “OK.”

They were in Seattle, the first time Louis had made the trip to Harry’s former city of residence. One of Harry’s closest friends from college was getting married and they had been more than happy to make the trip and get the chance to spend a few days away from home.

“So why are you awake, then?” Louis asked.

Harry shrugged. “I’m a teacher. Sleeping in isn’t really in my vocabulary anymore. Although, with the time difference, it’s like, ten o’clock back home. That’s pretty good for me.”

“I guess.” Louis shifted around, rustling the sheets on the hotel bed. “Do we really have to go back home tomorrow?”

“Yes… You know, since I have work in two days and I can’t really teach the kids if I’m not there.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s not how it works,” Harry said with a laugh. “Could you imagine if I had taught like that last year? Ernie never would’ve gotten anything done.”

“I don’t know; the kid’s pretty smart. He probably could’ve taught everyone if you weren’t there one day.”

“Yeah, I have to agree with that one.” Harry sat up and rolled out of bed, stretching his back. “OK, I’m getting in the shower so I don’t smell sweaty and recently fucked.”

“But that’s my favorite scent on you!” Louis joked, watching a naked Harry walk across the room.

“You’re a perv. And you need to get up. Come on.”

“I guess.”

Louis pulled back the covers and followed Harry into the bathroom. “Will you wash my hair?” he asked.

Harry sighed. “I guess. You know how much I _hate_ that.”

Louis grinned and stood up a bit taller to kiss Harry on the lips. “Of course you do, babe. Of course you do.”

\---

“And with the power vested in me by the State of Washington, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

Harry squeezed Louis’ hand as his friend Audrey kissed her new husband Michael. Everyone in the hall stood up and cheered, watching Audrey and Michael hold each other closely and whisper sweet nothings in each other’s ears.

The minister then checked his watch and said, “I’m happy to announce that it is officially 12:01 everyone, so also, Happy New Year!”

“Happy New Year!” friends and family echoed back to him, and couples turned to give each other a midnight kiss.

Harry put a hand on the side of Louis’ face. “Happy New Year,” he said.

Louis leaned into the touch and also a bit forward. “Happy New Year.” Then he pressed his lips firmly against Harry’s.

“To another year of us,” Harry said once they pulled apart, just loudly enough for Louis to hear it.

“Definitely to another wonderful year. Now come on. Let’s go get drunk.”

\---

The door to their hotel room burst open and Harry and Louis stumbled inside, drunk off the champagne served at the reception and each other’s roaming hands and sloppy kisses.

“God, Louis, fuck me already,” Harry moaned, grabbing Louis’ ass.

“I’d love to, babe, but we’ve got these fucking suits on and that makes it a little difficult.”

Louis pushed Harry’s arms away long enough to get his jacket off, and Harry did the same for Louis. Then they started working on unfastening the other’s buttons, their lips never leaving each other’s. Once that was done, their shirts were yanked off their bodies.

They dragged each other toward the bed, and Louis only pulled away so he could sit down and work on unlacing his dress shoes while Harry kicked off his boots. Louis watched as Harry tugged down his suit pants and his briefs, tossing them to the side of the room.

“You know, you could fuck me a lot faster if you worked on getting naked instead of watching me,” Harry said before flopping down on the bed next to Louis.

That shook Louis out of his daze. Once he got his shoes undone, he kicked them off, sending them flying away. Then he stood up to get the rest of his clothes. When he was done, he climbed onto the bed, draping himself over Harry. He placed one hand on either side of his head and straddled him, lining up their cocks. As he kissed Harry again, Louis thrusted forward, rubbing their dicks together. He heard Harry whimper at the sudden friction and felt Harry’s arms come up around his back, his nails digging into Louis’ heated skin.

Louis pulled away and started kissing down Harry’s neck, hearing Harry’s breathing start to speed up. He moved down Harry’s torso, kissing and nibbling at the warm, tattoo-covered skin, until he reached Harry’s crotch. He didn’t bother waiting before taking the head of Harry’s cock between his lips. He sucked greedily, tasting the salty precome on his tongue.

“Lou…” Harry moaned from above him.

Louis hummed as he bobbed his head up and down, knowing that the vibrations down his cock always drove Harry crazy.

“Ugh, Lou, get in me already. Fuck.”

Teasing, Louis ran a dry thumb across Harry’s rim. At the sudden sensation, Harry quickly pulled his knees together. Louis shot his hands up to push them apart, causing Harry to cry out in frustration.

“Lou, come on!”

Tired of waiting, Louis pulled off quickly. He wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand and gave Harry’s hole one more stroke.

Louis jumped off the bed and felt around on the ground, trying to find the lube from where he’d dropped it after using it the night before.

Once he found it, he kneeled on the bed between Harry’s open legs. He clicked open the lube bottle and started pouring some of the liquid over his fingers. However, he squeezed a little too hard, and lube went shooting out, dripping down his wrist and arm and spilling onto the sheets.

“Lou!”

“Sorry!” Louis said. He wiped the side of his arm on the sheet, trying to get some of the lube off his skin before it got too sticky. After a few swipes, he pressed one finger to Harry’s rim and started gently rubbing.

Harry sighed and tried to spread his legs even farther apart. He wrapped a hand around his dick and slowly stroked it, keeping himself stiff.

Louis made quick work of prepping Harry, knowing that neither one of them was going to last much longer, thanks to all of the champagne they’d had. He slipped in a second finger and only had a third finger in for a few seconds before Harry started getting impatient, whining and shifting his hips back and forth so that he could ride Louis’ fingers.

“You ready, babe?” Louis asked, as if he couldn’t tell.

“Yes,” Harry groaned. “Come on. I need your cock in me now.”

“Well OK, then.”

Louis slid his fingers out and lined his dick up with Harry’s hole. As Louis pressed in, he felt all of the air leave his body. His mouth dropped open as he tried to hold out on coming already. He grabbed onto Harry’s hips, trying to keep a smooth and steady speed as he moved.

“This is going to be really quick,” he said in a strained voice once he was all the way in.

“Well start fucking moving, then.” Harry grabbed Louis’ waist and rolled his hips, feeling Louis’ cock shift inside him.

Louis pulled back almost all the way out, and, just to be a total shit, waited there.

“Louis…” Harry started to complain. But before he could finish his thought, Louis quickly slid back in in one smooth motion.

Harry gasped at the feeling and Louis immediately pulled back and pushed in again. He worked his hips to fuck into Harry at a pace that started slowly, but continued building speed.

“Shit!” Harry cried out when Louis hit his prostate, the spot Louis had been trying to avoid so he didn’t come too quickly.

“Fuck, baby,” Louis moaned. He attached his lips to Harry’s neck and started sucking.

“Not the neck! Not the neck!”

Harry tried to avoid getting hickeys there, as sudden red and purple bruises on his skin weren’t easy to explain to a room full of second graders. Or their parents. Or the principal of the school.

Louis immediately pulled off and settled for making a mark on Harry’s collarbone instead.

Both men were rapidly approaching their orgasms. Harry’s toes curled into the mattress, so he wrapped one arm all the way around Louis’ waist, and got his free hand around his cock, tugging himself off. Louis’ hips were getting erratic, moving on their own as his abs tightened.

“Fuck,” Louis mumbled against Harry’s chest. With a few more thrusts, he came, filling Harry up completely. Harry cried out as he felt the sudden warmth inside of him. He kept moving his fist, desperate to get off, and it wasn’t until Louis put his hand on top of Harry’s, jerking Harry off together, that he did.

He could feel himself shooting between them and their hands didn’t stop until he was done.

They moved their hands away and Louis collapsed against Harry, their breathing seeming to be in competition with the other over which could go faster.

As they lay there, Harry thought about how this was what he wanted. Not just the fucking part – although that was definitely a plus – but just being together, being with Louis in every way possible.

He relaxed as Louis pulled out. He waited for Louis to return with a warm washcloth to wipe him down with.

When Louis finished, he dropped the cloth to the table by their bed and, when he noticed Harry staring at him, asked, “What?”

“I might love you a little bit,” Harry admitted.

“Oh, yeah?” Louis straddled Harry’s waist and buried his face in the crook of Harry’s neck, snuggling in close. “Just a little bit?”

“OK. Maybe a lot.”

 

**January 2018**

 

Everything leading up to this point had been going very well.

The few days they had in Seattle had been so much fun, with Harry showing Louis his high school and college and taking him to different parts around town. He’d also introduced Louis to Audrey and Michael and a few other college friends.

The first stop on the tour, however, had been the apartment building where Harry used to live, the same one that his mom and stepdad had moved out of back in August before moving back to New Jersey, as well. According to them, it was too hard to still be across the country from the kids, especially since Harry was definitely, permanently staying on the East Coast and Gemma was already in New York and had no plans to relocate. It just made more sense.

Last night at the wedding, the DJ had been playing great songs, Audrey and Michael had cut the cake and promptly shoved pieces in each other’s faces and plenty of goofy photo booth pictures had been taken. The food was delicious, the alcohol was flowing and everyone was having a great time.

Last night’s activities had been wonderful, as well, and Harry was sure their hotel neighbors had heard just _how_ wonderful.

Right then, when Harry and Louis were eating breakfast in the hotel lounge before heading to the airport, was when it all went wrong. They were talking to Courtney, one of Audrey’s sisters.

“It was a beautiful wedding, wasn’t it?” Louis asked.

Courtney nodded. “It better have been. Audrey stressed over it for so long I actually feared for anyone who made it less than perfect.”

“Well it’s a lot to worry about,” Harry said. “You know, so many things that could go wrong.”

“I know, but like I kept telling her, as long as it’s you and Michael, nothing else is going to matter once it’s all said and done.”

Louis nodded. “I agree with that. As long as you get the person of your dreams, the rest is all extra.”

Harry looked over at Louis and smiled at him. Louis returned the smile and added a wink, as well.

“So when are you two getting married?” Courtney asked boldly before taking another sip of her mimosa.

Harry froze. Shit, shit, shit, this completely went against his whole ‘keep it casual’ stance he’d been planning on keeping. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say.

Thankfully, Louis started it. He shrugged. “I don’t know, I mean, we haven’t really discussed that.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed. “I mean, if it happens, then it happens. You know… Whatever.”

 _Whatever?_ Harry thought to himself. _Did I really just say ‘whatever’ to when I’m getting married?_

“We’ve only been together about a year so we have time,” Louis finished.

Courtney nodded. “Fair. Well you’re really cute together, so I figured that was a thing that was coming soon.”

Harry stayed silent while Louis just thanked her.

“I need another mimosa,” Harry blurted out before walking away to go to the bar. He’d just said ‘whatever’ to the thought of marrying Louis, when it was all he’d been thinking about for weeks. He knew he told himself to keep it casual and not put too much pressure on Louis for the idea of getting engaged, but for fuck’s sake, that was probably too casual.

_Fuck. Does Louis think I don’t want to get married now? What if he thinks I’m not ready for it? What if I just put him off proposing even longer?_

Harry got to the bar and asked for another mimosa, heavy on the champagne, and wished that it wasn’t too early to also ask for a shot of something stronger. He couldn’t shake the fear that he’d really just messed up.

\---

In the days following their trip, Harry tried to figure out how to fix his problem that shouldn’t have even existed in the first place. After a lot of overthinking, he decided that he would just start leaving subtle hints to Louis that showed that he was ready to get engaged.

And he already had one that he wanted to start with.

“Hey, bro.”

Harry looked up from his desk and saw Doris walking into his classroom. School had just let out for the day, and Harry was cleaning up before leaving for the weekend. Ever since Harry and Louis had started dating last October, the twins would come to Harry’s room after school so that he could drive them home instead of having to take the bus. That had continued into this year, now that they were in third grade, and neither one of them had him as a teacher.

“Hey, D. Where’s your brother?”

Doris just shrugged as she dropped her book bag and sat on one of the desks. “Like I’m supposed to know. I’m his twin, not his mom.”

“Yeah, that’s a good point. Are you doing anything this weekend?”

“I’m sleeping over my friend Olivia’s house tonight. I think that’s it. I don’t know about Ern, though.”

“What don’t you know about me?” Ernie asked, walking into the room.

“Oh, there he is,” Harry said. “We were just about to leave without you.”

“Yeah, right. Like my mom would let you get away with that. Louis probably wouldn’t, either.”

Harry pursed his lips. He couldn’t deny it; the kid had a point.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Ernie asked proudly.

“You’re too much like your brother,” Harry muttered under his breath.

“What?”

“Nothing. Let’s go home. Come on.”

Harry grabbed his bag and his phone from the top shelf of his desk. He turned off the lights and the three of them left the room. He stopped in the main office to sign out and say goodbye to the secretaries that were shutting down their computers.

“Is Anne coming to dinner on Sunday?” Doris asked as they walked to Harry’s car. “We haven’t seen her in so long.”

Every Sunday night, the entire Tomlinson-Deakin family ate dinner together at Jay’s house. It was a non-negotiable part of being in the large family. With all of their busy schedules, it was usually the only time they all saw each other.

“Pretty sure she came two weeks ago,” Harry said, laughing. But he understood where she was coming from. His mom was pretty great.

They reached the car and Harry unlocked the door. The twins got in the backseat and buckled their seat belts.

“Yeah, but when she comes, she brings that sweet potato thing,” Ernie continued. “I mean, obviously our mom is the best cook in the world, but she doesn’t do sweet potatoes as good as yours does. Don’t tell her I said that.”

Harry snorted. He backed out of his parking space and started toward Jay’s house. “What’s it worth to you?”

“Are you trying to blackmail me? I’m eight. What do you think I can really give you?”

Harry started laughing. “I’m just kidding, Ern. Just kidding.”

“OK. Good.”

Harry pulled up to the house a few minutes later and they all got out. Doris went up to it and walked right in.

* * *

* * *

 

“We’re home!” she yelled out.

Jay immediately shushed them as she hurried out of the kitchen. “Try to keep it down, OK? Dad has a headache and he’s laying down upstairs.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s all right. Harry, how are you, sweetie?”

She opened her arms for a hug and Harry easily fell into them. “I’m good, as always. How are you? How’s everything?”

“Everything’s fine, but I’m a little sad.”

“Why?”

Jay sighed. “Fizzy got her graduation paperwork in the mail today. Can you believe she’ll get her degree in May?”

Harry shook his head. “Another Tomlinson done with school. How do you cope?”

“I don’t, really. I just have more children and I get to do it all again.”

Harry burst out in laughter. “I guess that’s one way to go about things.”

“Sure it is. Like, when Louis was about to graduate high school, I dealt with the situation by delivering the twins in February. Easy fix.”

Harry just shook his head. “You’re too much.”

“Yeah, but you love me.”

“I do. OK. I have to go, but I’ll see you on Sunday.”

“Damn straight, you will.”

* * *

* * *

 

Harry smiled and gave her one more hug. He said goodbye to Doris and Ernest and also to Phoebe, Daisy and Fizzy, who were all in different spots throughout the house.

He got back into his car and headed for home. When he arrived, he checked the mailbox, and, just as he’d hoped, there were letters in there, which meant that Louis hadn’t gotten home yet.

_Perfect._

He took the mail and went up to the apartment. He set the mail on the dining table and went into his bag, pulling out the wedding magazine he’d bought the day before. He put it in with the rest of the mail and left it for Louis to find.

He went back to his bedroom and got changed out of his work clothes. Luckily for him, he didn’t have to wait long for his plan to go into effect.

A few minutes later, Louis got back. “Harry?” he called out. “You home?”

“I’m here!” Harry walked down the hallway and found Louis going through the mail.

_Perfect again._

“Anything good in there?” Harry asked casually as Louis got to the magazine. “I didn’t really look through it.”

Louis stilled, looking at the cover, which showed beautiful flower bouquets. “Harry, what is this?” he asked. He held up the magazine for Harry to see.

Harry tried his best to look shocked. “Oh, what’s that? How did that get in there?”

“It’s a wedding magazine…”

“Oh. That’s funny. Guess it got mixed in from someone else’s mail.”

“No, there’s no return address,” Louis said. “That means that someone put it in our mailbox for us. What the actual fuck?”

Harry didn’t know what to say. Louis actually seemed _mad_ about this. “Louis…”

“I’m calling the police.”

“What?” Harry shrieked. “Why?”

“Harry, don’t you see? Clearly someone is watching us and knows that we just went to a wedding,” Louis said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “That’s creepy as fuck and I won’t stand for that level of invasion on our privacy.”

“Louis, stop!” Harry said, rushing over. He snatched the phone out of Louis’ hands. “We don’t need to call the police. Don’t be silly.”

“Why not? Aren’t you freaked out by this?”

“No, honestly.” Harry needed to diffuse this situation. Now. “It’s just a wedding magazine, babe. It’s fine. I’ll take it to the office tomorrow and just let them know there was some kind of mistake today. I’ll take care of it.”

“You’re sure?” Louis asked.

“I’m sure. Now calm down.”

Louis took a deep breath. “OK. If you’re calm, then so am I.”

“Thank you.” Harry handed Louis his phone back.

“But if this happens again…”

“It won’t. I’m sure of it.”

Louis nodded. “I’m gonna get a snack. Do you want anything?”

Harry shook his head. “No, I’m OK.”

“OK. Hi, by the way.” Louis quickly kissed Harry on the cheek before walking into the kitchen.

Harry silently let out his breath. That hadn’t been the best way to start dropping hints. Harry decided he would have to be better than that.

\---

The following weekend, Harry was Skyping with Audrey. Louis had just texted him that he was on the way back from the gym, so he figured it was the perfect time to bring up what he really wanted to ask her about.

“So how’s married life treating you?”

“Oh, it’s great,” Audrey gushed. “I mean, I didn’t think it was going to feel _so_ different after the wedding, but it does. Like, we already lived together, and Michael was actually really helpful in planning everything, but like, it still doesn’t feel real sometimes, you know? It’s just been so wonderful every day that I feel like I’m going to wake up from a dream.”

Just then, Harry heard the front door open.

“Hey, babe,” Louis greeted. He looked at the computer screen. “Oh. Hi, Audrey!”

“Hi, Louis!” she said. “How have you been?”

“I’m great, how about you?” He sat down on the couch next to Harry and waited for her answer.

“I’m doing really well; thanks for asking.”

“Audrey and I were just talking about married life,” Harry said. “She said it’s been great. Right, Audrey?”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely. I mean, it’s been crazy, you know? It’s a huge change marrying someone. You start noticing a lot more of their annoying little habits…”

“I’m sure it’s not that many,” Harry cut in as Audrey and Louis started laughing. “Weren’t you just saying that it didn’t feel real?”

“Yeah, because his annoying moments are less endearing now that I’m stuck with him forever,” Audrey replied.

Louis let out another loud laugh.

Harry wanted to throttle his friend; she wasn’t playing along at all with the imaginary script he’d written in his head of how this conversation would go in front of Louis.

“And his mom? Oh, boy. I mean, I loved her before we got married, but ever since the wedding, she’s been pestering us to start popping out kids.”

“Well kids aren’t a bad thing,” Harry said.

“No, of course not. But we’ve been married for less than three weeks. She needs to give us some time.”

“Yeah, I’m the oldest of seven,” Louis told her. “So I know my mom wants me to have a lot, too. She’ll probably pester me all the time, and I can definitely wait until then, you know?”

“Oh, yeah, absolutely. I have plenty of time. There’s no rush.”

“I mean, there’s not _that much_ time,” Harry mumbled. “Why put things off when you can have them now? But Audrey, didn’t you also say you felt like you might wake up from a dream because everything had been going so well?”

“Maybe she meant nightmare, babe,” Louis joked.

Audrey suddenly turned very serious. “Oh, it’s definitely a nightmare.”

Louis and Harry exchanged a glance before looking back at the screen.

“Guys, I’m totally messing with you,” Audrey said, bursting into laughter. “God, you should’ve seen your faces, though.”

Louis chuckled right along with her and said, “Yeah, you almost had me there.”

“Yeah, that was a great prank,” Harry gritted out.

“I mean, his mom probably _is_ chomping at the bit waiting for her first grandbaby, but besides that, it’s great. It’s a lot of fun, and yeah, it’s definitely work. In the end, though, it’s just- It’s just perfect getting to be with my best friend, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that,” Louis told her. “I have that with Harry, too. I mean, we were best friends forever and, when I was younger, I never thought that I would actually fall in love with him. I mean, he was my best friend since we were kids, that would’ve been a crazy thought, you know? But here I am, seriously the luckiest guy in the world, because the person I love most and the person I can talk to about anything is the same person. It doesn’t get better than that, in my opinion.”

“Awwww,” Audrey cooed. “You’re almost as disgustingly sweet as Michael is. He says that sort of stuff a lot.”

Louis shrugged a shoulder. “Well it’s true, so I don’t mind saying it.” He looked over at Harry, who’d gone surprisingly silent.

Louis put his hand on Harry’s knee and gave it a quick squeeze.

Harry just smiled and leaned over, kissing him softly on the cheek.

“You guys are too cute,” Audrey said.

Harry smiled. “Thank you.” It was meant as a response to what both Louis and Audrey had just said.

Louis just winked and turned back toward the camera. “Well, I should go shower. I just went to the gym and I still stink a little bit.”

“Got it,” Audrey said. “Well I’ll talk to you later, then. Don’t be a stranger.”

“Same to you. I’ll see you.”

Louis squeezed Harry’s knee once more before getting up and heading to the bathroom.

“I like him,” Audrey said once Louis was out of the room.

“Yeah,” Harry sighed. “Yeah, me, too.”

\---

Toward the end of the month, Louis and Harry found themselves half asleep on the couch on a Friday night. Louis was adjusting to being back to work after nearly five weeks away while Harry had mid-semester ‘small moment’ stories to grade. Even though cuddling on the couch was nice and just what Harry needed, he made a suggestion of what else to do with their time.

“How about a movie?” he asked Louis.

Louis nodded, stifling a yawn. “I’ll go make popcorn. You can pick the movie.”

Harry grinned to himself as Louis walked into the kitchen. He was hoping Louis would say that.

When Louis came back with a bowl of popcorn in his hands, he was surprised at the movie choice.

“ _Bride Wars_?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Harry said happily. “Do you know what it’s about? I’ll tell you. It’s Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson and they’ve been absolute best friends ever since they were kids. They even talk about having a joint wedding. And then they have to spend some time getting their boyfriends to propose. And some other stuff happens, but it’s good. You’ll like it.”

Louis nodded, listening to Harry’s description of the movie. “OK. If you say so.”

They cuddled back up together as the movie started. Harry could feel Louis relaxed next to him as they watched Liv and Emma’s childhood memories of planning their weddings together.

When Steve Howey appeared on screen, Louis said, “Oh, I remember him from _Reba._ How old is this movie?”

“Not that old,” Harry replied. “Keep watching.”

The movie continued and they learned more about Liv and Emma and their boyfriends.

“Liv’s kind of controlling,” Louis said.

“Not controlling. She just knows what she wants.”

“I guess. She needs to just let Daniel propose when he’s ready, though.”

“Well maybe she’s ready and she’s just waiting for him to catch up.”

Louis just hummed.

Harry sat frozen when it reached the scene he’d been waiting for. Liv and Emma were walking in the park and Liv decided to go confront her boyfriend about why he hadn’t proposed.

Harry held his breath as she burst into his office and yelled, “Will you just marry me already?” He peeked up to gauge Louis’ reaction and immediately pouted in disbelief.

Louis was asleep. Judging by how his head was tilted back and how his lips were slowly parting, Harry guessed he had been for at least a few minutes. Meaning, he’d missed the entire scene.

Harry sighed and turned the movie off. He’d already seen it plenty of times; he didn’t need to watch it again if Louis wouldn’t even be awake to see it. He went to his bag and pulled out his students’ stories, figuring if the apartment was actually quiet for once, he might as well get some grading done.

**February 2018**

By the time February rolled around, Harry knew he needed to step it up even more. His subtle hints hadn’t worked at all, so Harry had to get a little bolder.

It was the week before Valentine’s Day, and Harry was using his computer. He pulled up a website of things to do in Bulgaria, their planned trip for this June, as well as an online article that featured a list of the most romantic ways to propose. When Louis came into the room, he conveniently left the proposal article up and put his computer on the coffee table, angling the screen so that Louis could still see it.

He got up, stretched and walked into the kitchen to get some water. When he returned, he minimized the article, pulled the computer back into his lap and said, “Hey, babe, check out this list of different things to do in Bulgaria.”

Louis shifted over on the couch to get a better view of the computer screen. When he was closer, Harry _accidentally_ pulled up the proposal article instead of the travel website.

“Oh, oops,” Harry said, as if he didn’t plan that. “How did that happen?”

“You need to get an ad blocker, babe,” Louis said. “You’re gonna get a virus if you keep letting these random websites pop up.”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind,” Harry grumbled. “Anyway, Bulgaria…”

He clicked on the correct website and showed it to Louis.

“Can you believe we’re really going?” Louis asked as he browsed the different attractions. “I mean, do you remember sitting in my room when I threw the dart at the map and it landed here? And now we’re actually going.”

Back when Louis was a freshman in high school, he’d started a list of places he wanted to travel to when he graduated. He had a map in his room and, once a week, he would throw a dart at it, adding whatever location the dart landed on to his list of ‘Travel To’ places. One time it landed on Bulgaria, and even though he didn’t know a damn thing about Bulgaria, Louis added it to his list.

“Yeah, it only took twelve years,” Harry said.

 _Hopefully it won’t take that long to get engaged_ , Harry thought to himself.

“And now we’re _both_ going,” Louis said. “Remember when you thought you wouldn’t get the chance to travel with me because you’d be too broke? And because your mom wouldn’t let you go? And now look at you. Traveling with me to all of the random places I’ve always wanted to go to.”

Harry smiled. “Yeah, I remember that. I mean, your travel plans also got thrown off because-”

“If you say because of you, I’ll scream. How many times do I have to tell you that I didn’t travel after graduation because the timing wasn’t right? It was because the babies were just born and it was crazy at home, not because you fucked off to Seattle when you were supposed to stay here with me.”

Harry didn’t say anything. Toward the end of his sophomore year, he’d told Louis that he _would_ travel with him, after months of saying that he couldn’t. He could still remember how Louis’ face had lit up when Harry said that the two of them would be seeing all of the places on Louis’ list. Together. And then Robin got transferred to Seattle, Harry moved away and their travel plans were dashed. He still blamed himself, even a little bit, for Louis not following his dreams of traveling and getting the fuck out of their small town the day after he graduated high school. He couldn’t help it at this point. He knew he’d thrown Louis for a loop and would probably never shake that feeling.

“Stop blaming yourself, please,” Louis requested softly. “You know I love you, right?”

Harry nodded. “I love you, too.”

“Good. Now come on. Let’s figure out this Bulgaria trip. We only have like, four-and-a-half months left until we go.”

Harry smiled. He leaned over and pecked Louis gently. “OK. Let’s plan.”

\---

The following Wednesday was Valentine’s Day, and Louis made reservations for them to go to a fancy Italian restaurant in Philadelphia.

When they walked in a few minutes before 8 o’clock, they were immediately shown to a small booth near the back of the restaurant, right next to the window that had a gorgeous view of the city skyline.

Harry gasped when he saw it. “Louis, it’s beautiful.”

Louis took Harry’s hands in his and kissed the knuckles on both. “Not as beautiful as you.”

Harry snorted. “That was so cheesy.”

“But you liked it, didn’t you?” Louis smiled as he put Harry’s hands back down on the table.

“No. It was awful. Please stop.”

Their waiter came up to the table then and introduced himself. “Hello, gentlemen, my name is Marco and I’ll be your waiter tonight. Would you be interested in seeing our wine list?”

“Oh, yes, please,” Louis said.

Harry raised an eyebrow as Marco presented Louis with a small black book.

“Take your time making your choice, and I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Marco said before departing.

“Louis, what are you doing?” Harry asked amusedly.

“I’m inspecting the wine list, Styles. What does it look like?” Louis adjusted his pair of imaginary glasses as if he actually knew what he was doing.

“Louis, you don’t know anything about wine.”

“I know that you like pink moscato.”

“Yes, I do, but it’s not really what I should drink with heavy pasta.”

“Oh, yes!” Louis exclaimed, drawing attention from a few nearby tables.

Harry shushed him and apologized for disrupting their dinner.

“Now I remember. If you’re having chicken parmesan, which you probably are, you should pair it with a nice merlot because of the richness of the dish. And I’ll get that, too, just because I know fuck all else about wine.”

Harry giggled. “I’m impressed that you bothered to look up that much.”

“Well, I wanted this to be a special night.”

Harry nodded slowly. “And why is that?”

“Because you mean a lot to me, and even though I think I do a pretty good job at showing you how much I love you every day, I want to really show it today of all days.”

Harry smiled. “Lou…”

“I mean it.”

“I know you do. And I love you for that.”

“I love you, too.”

They both leaned in and kissed over the table. Once they sat back down, their waiter returned and asked if they were ready.

Louis ordered two glasses of a random merlot off the wine list as well as their dinner, which both men were already starving for.

They told each other about their days while they waited, and once the food did arrive, the conversation came to a halt as they ate.

In fact, both of them remained quiet until their attention was grabbed by something a few tables over.

“Yes! Oh, my God, yes! Of course I’ll marry you!”

Harry and Louis both looked up at the woman shrieking as her new fiancé slid a ring on her finger. The entire restaurant burst into applause as the couple embraced.

Harry tried to rein it in, not wanting to send death stares to the smiley future Mr. and Mrs. But he couldn’t help but pout a little.

“You know,” Harry said, feeling the third glass of merlot flowing through his veins, “if you propose, I hope it wouldn’t be in a restaurant and in public like that.”

He looked up to see if Louis would react to what was definitely his boldest move yet. But it looked like Louis wasn’t even paying attention to him. He was still turned around, watching the couple sit back down.

“Louis?” Harry asked. “Did you hear me?”

He didn’t, and Harry realized that when Louis turned back toward the table and whispered, “Her ring is ugly.”

“What?” Harry hissed.

“I said that her ring is ugly. It’s a square diamond, which is nice, but it’s too small for the band. It’s gold, which is fine, but it’s too thick. The ring doesn’t pop enough.”

Louis started eating again and Harry just muttered, “At least she has a ring.”

“Babe, did you say something? I’m sorry.”

_Of course you heard that._

Harry just shook his head. “Nope. Didn’t say anything.”

Louis frowned, instantly noticing the change in mood. “Are you OK? What’s the matter?”

“Nothing’s the matter.”

“Harry…”

“I’m just tired, I swear. God, who decided Valentine’s Day could be on a Wednesday this year?”

Louis chuckled. “Yeah, still two more days of work, I’m afraid. But… You know what will make that a little easier to deal with?”

“What?”

Louis leaned forward, like he was about to confess a big secret. Harry played along, smiling as he got closer to Louis, as well.

“Dessert,” Louis whispered.

“What kind of dessert are we talking about here?”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “Styles, are you making an innuendo?”

“Are you really surprised?”

“Not really. But you could have both types of dessert if you play your cards right.”

Harry snorted and dropped his head to the table as he started laughing, his shoulders shaking with his loud giggles.

“OK, this is getting weird now,” he said when he finally sat up. “Can we go home? I just bought ice cream and it’s calling my name.”

“You read my mind, baby.”

They paid the check and left the restaurant. As Louis drove home, he held Harry’s hand over the console, running his thumb across the back of it. That, in combination with the heat blasting in the car to keep them warm, had Harry feeling so calm he could’ve fallen asleep.

In fact, he was pretty sure he did, because it felt like they reached the apartment in less time than it took to get to the restaurant. They sleepily climbed up the stairs and, once they shut the door behind them, went to get changed.

They cuddled up together on the couch, feeding each other spoonfuls of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. In between bites, they exchanged sugary sweet kisses, their cold lips sending chills up the other’s spine.

As the night went on, Harry got colder and also, closer to Louis. It probably seemed like he was relaxing, when really, he was just planning his next move.

\---

* * *

* * *

 

Sunday night dinners at the Tomlinson-Deakin residence were always a loud, crazy affair, and the following Sunday night was no different.

Harry came nearly every Sunday, a side effect of dating Louis, and this week, Anne and Robin decided to join in on the fun, as well. Luckily for Doris and Ernest, Anne made her sweet potato casserole, too.

Everyone was crammed in around Jay’s dining room table: Jay, Dan, Louis, all six of his siblings, Lottie’s boyfriend Tommy, Harry, Anne and Robin. Harry’s elbows hit someone else’s every time he cut up part of his dinner, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“So Ernest, guess what I found in your room today while I was cleaning?” Jay asked.

All eyes turned to Ernest. Anyone who knew this family could make a solid guess of where this conversation was headed.

Ernest’s eyes were staring down at the table. Harry figured he was already trying to figure out how to talk his way out of this one.

“Ernest?”

Harry saw the resolve flash across Ernest’s face. Then he pointed a finger across the table, right at Louis.

“It was Louis’ idea! I got it from him. I wasn’t going to use it, I swear!”

“What?” Louis exclaimed. “I didn’t give you anything!”

“What did he give him?” Tommy asked cautiously.

“Yes, you did!” Ernest insisted.

“I did not! Why would I give you one of those? I hated those things,” Louis lied.

“Hated what?” Fizzy wanted to know.

“You do not!” Ernest said. “You used them all the time when you were in school!”

“No, I didn’t!”

Anne figured it out then. “Oh, no. Not a whoopee cushion.”

“Yes, you did! You had a whoopee cushion!” Ernest yelled across the table, confirming her thoughts.

“I did not!” Louis denied. “Mom, lie to the boy and tell him I didn’t have a whoopee cushion when I was his age.”

“Louis, you know I can’t do that,” Jay said.

“Why not? You used to lie to me all the time! You always told me about people who were real, like Sant-”

“Louis!” Every adult at the table, or, everyone except Doris and Ernest, yelled at Louis to stop talking.

Louis looked across the table at his youngest siblings and said, “Hmm. Never mind.”

“Louis, shut up,” Dan said. “Why did you buy him a whoopee cushion?”

“I didn’t buy him a whoopee cushion!”

“So how did it get in his room?” Daisy asked.

“I don’t know, but I didn’t give it to him. Why does nobody believe me?”

“Because we know you?” Lottie suggested.

“Shut up.”

“You shut up.”

“Both of you shut up,” Jay ordered. Then she looked at the younger twins again and corrected herself. “I mean, stop talking.”

“I can’t believe people still think those things are funny,” Anne said, shaking her head. “Jay, remember how many phone calls we used to get about these two?”

She pointed at Harry and Louis, both of whom were avoiding looking at their mothers.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure the principal just had us on speed dial for how many pranks these two did,” Jay said.

“Oh, please,” Louis told her, waving his hand. “The only time you ever got a phone call about me was to tell you how wonderful of a student I was. Everyone loved me, come on.”

All five of Louis’ sisters immediately shot that down, all speaking over each other to talk about how annoying Louis was, in every way possible.

“Well I love you, too,” Louis shouted over them.

“‘Have kids,’ they said,” Jay muttered to herself. “‘It’ll be fun,’ they said.”

“Look, just because Ern isn’t in Harry’s class anymore,” Phoebe started to say, “doesn’t mean it’s OK to encourage him to play pranks on his teachers. Isn’t that right, Harry?”

“Don’t drag me into this,” Harry said.

“Hate to break it to you, babe, but you’re very much already in this,” Louis whispered. “Now tell them I didn’t buy Ern the whoopee cushion.”

“If Louis says he didn’t do it, then he didn’t do it.”

“Suck up,” Lottie teased.

“How is that sucking up if it’s the truth?”

“You don’t want him or E playing pranks on you, especially now that E’s picking up all of your and Lou’s old habits. You know how bad it can get. Just admit it, H.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Why are you even here?” Louis exclaimed. “Who invited you? You don’t live here anymore!”

“Neither do you!” Lottie yelled back. “Why are you here?”

“Harry wanted to come.”

“I did not!” Harry denied. Then he realized what he said and turned to Jay. “I don’t mean that. Obviously, I want to be here and I’m just trying to get your son to stop talking.”

“Believe me, I understand,” Jay said.

“I could’ve stopped after Gemma,” Anne said to Robin. “I could’ve stopped and we wouldn’t be here listening to this.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Harry called over. “Love you, too!”

“OK, let’s not forget who actually started this,” Louis announced, getting everyone’s attention. “It was Harry. He gave me my first whoopee cushion.”

“What?” Harry exclaimed as everyone around him started laughing in surprise.

“He won it at Chuck E. Cheese and gave it to me,” Louis continued.

“You’re just throwing me under the bus tonight, aren’t you?” Harry accused. “After I protected you a minute ago.”

“If I’m going down, I’m definitely taking you with me.”

“So you admit that you did it?” Dan asked.

“No! I don’t admit anything. But everyone is just so ready to believe that I’m willing to corrupt my only brother and teach him all the ways of playing pranks at school. Guess there’s no changing your minds.”

“Because you did it,” Lottie whispered.

“Shut it!” Louis hissed back.

Lottie responded by scratching at her face with only her middle finger up.

“Cute.”

Lottie just smiled at him.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Louis said, standing up from the table, “I need to step outside for a minute and get some fresh air.”

“Need to get some more tricks, Lou?” Fizzy asked.

“Here’s something to keep in mind,” Daisy called as Louis walked away, “Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes only exists in the Harry Potter books. It’s not a real place!”

“Ha ha ha!” Louis pretended to laugh. “You’re all so funny.”

Harry smiled and dropped his napkin down on his plate. “I’ll be right back.”

He followed Louis out through the front door and sat down with him on the step.

Once he was comfortable, Harry asked, “Louis, did you buy Ernest that whoopee cushion?”

Louis scoffed. “Of _course_ I did, Styles. Keep up. Who do you think I am?”

Harry just laughed and shook his head. One day, this would be his family: all of it. And he couldn’t wait for that moment; he just had to get Louis fully onboard with the idea and make his move.

* * *

* * *

 

**March 2018**

 

OK, Harry was starting to get desperate now. It was already March and he was no closer to getting Louis to understand that he was onboard with getting engaged. Maybe his comments at the wedding really _had_ pushed Louis away from the idea. Or maybe Louis thought Harry wasn’t ready. Maybe _Louis_ wasn’t ready. But Harry was. And he really wanted Louis to put a sparkly ring on his finger.

So much that Harry bought a new ring and put it on his engagement finger himself. It didn’t take Louis long to notice the new addition to his hand.

“Oh, that’s a nice ring, babe,” Louis said at dinner. He took Harry’s hand and examined it more closely. It was silver with a large rose on top. It went well with the other rings that Harry wore every day.

“Thank you. I saw it today and just really liked it, so I got it.”

“It looks good on you.”

“Thanks. I mean, obviously, when you propose, I’ll take this one off to make room.”

Just then, Louis jumped up. “Fuck!”

“What’s the matter?” Harry asked worriedly.

“I bit my tongue. Is it bleeding?”

Louis stuck his tongue out for Harry to look at, but he quickly turned away, unable to stand the sight of blood, especially at the dinner table.

“I need to go rinse my mouth out,” Louis said. “I’m sorry, babe, what were you saying?”

Harry was going to repeat his statement, but once he heard Louis slurping water into his mouth and spitting it out in the kitchen sink, he knew the moment was effectively ruined.

“Nothing,” he muttered to himself. “Nothing at all.”

\---

“There’s a lot of things for us to do, mostly architectural stuff like churches and monuments,” Louis said. “There are museums to go to, of course, but we’ll be spending most of the trip in Sofia, which is the Bulgarian capital. Then we’ll be driving out of there to visit some places in the countryside.”

Louis was telling everyone about his and Harry’s plans for their trip to Bulgaria. It was St. Patrick’s Day, and since the holiday fell on a Saturday this year, their friend Niall decided to have a few people over to celebrate. Besides Niall and Louis, Harry was in attendance, and so were Liam, a friend and Louis’ coworker, Sophia, Liam’s girlfriend and also the nurse at Harry’s school, and Perrie, another second-grade teacher.

“So don’t get me wrong,” Niall cut in, “because I’m happy that you two get to go on all the trips you’ve always wanted to go on, but I’m just wondering something.”

“What are you wondering, Niall?” Harry asked.

“I’m wondering if you ever plan on getting together a trip that maybe some of your friends can join you on? Or is it just going to be you two? Because I don’t go anywhere.”

“Me, either,” Sophia agreed. She also elbowed Liam in the side.

“Ow!” Liam muttered.

“I don’t go anywhere, either,” Perrie added. “So can we get this together?”

“Guys, seriously, if you want to plan a big trip, let’s do it,” Louis told them.

“Yeah, that’s fine with me,” Harry said. “Do we have any suggestions?”

“I just want to go somewhere I can drink in a pool or by a pool,” Perrie said. “Or on the beach, or near the beach, like at a beach bar. Or even if there’s a pool with a swim-up bar, that’s fine, too.”

“I have the same requests as Perrie!” Sophia jumped in.

“Same!” added Niall. “And it has to be for like, a week. No ‘weekend getaway’ for me.”

“I just want to be able to sleep in,” Liam said. “Like, not have to set an alarm or anything. That would be nice.”

“So I guess maybe somewhere in the Caribbean would be good for you moochers?” Louis joked.

The four of them just nodded.

“Yeah, that works for me,” Perrie said.

Louis sighed. “Guess we have some more planning to do, babe.”

“You act like its such a hardship to go on a Caribbean vacation with our friends,” Harry said.

“It might be. You don’t know what they’re like traveling. They could be awful.”

“We’re right here, guys,” Liam said.

“They could eavesdrop on our conversations and add extra comments,” Harry continued. “They might not know how to take a joke.”

“Oh, wouldn’t that be awful!” Louis gasped.

“Fine, we get it,” Niall said. “We won’t make you hang out with us on a beach somewhere so we can all spend quality time together and have fun in the sun. Whatever.”

“Yeah, just thought it would be a nice change,” Sophia added. “You know, something different to do than sit around here like we always do.”

Louis and Harry chuckled.

“We’re just kidding,” Harry said. “You know we would love to go on vacation with all of you.”

“Ooh, I just had a thought,” Perrie started. “This won’t be like, a couples thing, will it? Because that could be a little tricky.”

“Agreed,” Niall said.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Louis answered. “Just a friends thing.”

“And we do love our friends,” Harry added. “Promise.”

“Even if they crash our vacations.”

“OK, OK, you guys are so funny,” Sophia said, standing up. “So funny that I need another drink to enjoy the jokes.”

“I’ll go with you,” Harry offered. “I need another drink so I can keep making jokes.”

“Is that how Louis deals with your jokes? By drinking?”

“Ha ha.”

Harry and Sophia walked into the kitchen and pulled different juices from the fridge. They grabbed rum from the counter and each made their own drink.

“So, can I tell you something that I’ve been wanting to tell someone all night?” Sophia asked quietly.

“Of course you can.” Harry finished mixing his drink and put the juice back in the fridge, waiting to hear the news.

“Liam brought up marriage the other day.”

“Excuse me? What?”

Harry was in shock. There was no way he’d heard correctly. But there Sophia was, happily nodding away.

“Yeah,” Sophia said. “Um, he just brought it up out of the blue. He was like, ‘Hey, Soph, do you want to get married one day?’ And obviously, I said I did. So now we’re sort of talking about marriage and stuff.”

Harry hesitated before saying anything, and when he did, all he said was, “Oh.”

“I know! Isn’t it crazy? Wait, are you guys talking about marriage?” Sophia asked excitedly.

“No,” Harry immediately answered. “Well, no, he’s not. But I am. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Just, no, I guess.”

“Oh. Well, I’m sure it’ll happen soon, then. I mean, it’s you guys. You were like, made to be together.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Sensing that Harry was still thinking about it, she asked, “Do you want a shot?”

Harry hesitated just a moment before nodding his head.

Sophia reached for the bottle of Irish whiskey Niall had sitting on the counter and twisted off the cap. They each filled a shot glass to the brim and said ‘cheers’ before tossing it back.

“Ooh, I feel really warm now,” Harry said.

Sophia shuddered slightly and wrinkled her nose.

“You OK?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just been a while since I’ve had whiskey.”

“Same.”

“OK, ready to head back out there?”

“You go ahead. I’ll be out in a second.”

“OK.”

Sophia grabbed her drink and returned to the living room.

As soon as she left the room, Harry let out a long sigh. Sophia and Liam had been together a few weeks less than he and Louis had been. So if they were talking about marriage already, then why weren’t he and Louis?

Checking over his shoulder, Harry took another shot of the whiskey. If he took another one after that, no one had to know.

\---

When they got home, Louis took Harry right back to their room. He lay his boyfriend on the bed and started to undress him, knowing Harry wouldn’t want to sleep in his jeans.

“Louis,” Harry whined.

Louis just smiled. “Yes, Harry?”

“Don’t you want to get married?”

“Of course I do.”

“To me?”

Louis smiled even wider. “Of course to you.”

“So ask me, then.”

“Right now?”

“No!” Harry tried to slap at Louis’ shoulder, but in his drunken state, it came off as more of a tap. “Anytime. Just ask me.”

“It’s only because you’re fucking wasted and won’t remember anything that I’m telling you this, Harry Styles,” Louis started. “But I have something so wonderful planned for you that it’s going to sweep you right off your feet. And once I have the ring back from the jewelers, it’s on, baby.”

“Really?” Harry cooed.

“Yeah.”

“Aww, Louis…” And then Harry turned to the side and got sick all over the floor.

Louis wrinkled up his nose. _I’m getting married to an idiot._

\---

The next morning, Harry felt like there was a construction zone in his head.

“Louis?” he called out weakly, hoping his boyfriend would hear him and bring him some aspirin for his head.

A few years – or maybe it was only a few minutes – later, Louis came strolling in, carrying a bottle of water and some Tylenol.

“Hey, Champ,” Louis said, smiling at Harry. “How do you feel?”

“Like shit.”

“Sorry, babe. Do you remember anything?”

“I threw up.”

“Yeah. Anything else?”

Harry sighed. “There were some shots.”

Louis nodded. “OK. Well here, take this.” He gave Harry the medicine and water, waiting to see if Harry needed help taking it.

He also grinned to himself, feeling happy that even though he’d technically told Harry he planned on proposing, there was still a little bit of a surprise waiting for him.

\---

The following Friday night, Harry and Louis were at the Wells Fargo Center to cheer on the Flyers. They were new hockey fans, and had only started attending games a few months ago, after Perrie had organized a Teachers’ (and significant others) Night Out back in November. It was a sport they both found that they enjoyed, especially since they needed to pass the time until baseball picked back up.

It was only the second period, and the teams were tied at one goal each. Harry tugged at the orange [beanie](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/34/8f/d3/348fd3568cbd6a88bbe008b3a0bd6393.jpg) he wore on his head, watching as the other team went down the ice with the puck. 

Louis smiled at him. He flicked the black pom pom on the top of Harry’s hat and said, “Styles, you're the only one I know who can pull that off." 

Harry grinned. “I do look devilishly handsome in it, don’t I?”

“You certainly do.”

Louis leaned in and pecked Harry on the lips. They only separated when they heard the crowd going crazy. They looked and watched Wayne Simmonds attempt a shot at the net. The goalie blocked the puck and the game continued.

“So my spring break is coming up in a few weeks,” Harry started. “I know you can’t take off then, but did we want to do anything?”

“Oh, um, I’m working from home that week.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “You’re working from home?”

“Yeah,” Louis said.

“You hate working from home. You always talk about how distracted you get.”

“I know, but it’ll be nice to be with you. I just have a few more events to plan for school. Like, I just have to work on the end of the year concert. And the comedian who’s coming next week. And the Cinco de Mayo celebration. And, you know, everything with Graduation.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Babe, if it’s easier to get that done from campus, you can. I’ll survive. I might actually take a nap during the day while you’re gone. I never get to take naps anymore.”

“Nah. I’ll be fine. Like I said: I just want to spend some time with you.”

Harry shrugged. “Suit yourself. Because, who am I kidding? I won’t have time for naps. I’ll be busy planning our end of year projects and grading the tests I’ll probably give the week before.”

“Well, you never know,” Louis said. “You might find some time to just relax.”

“I hope so.”

“So do I,” Louis muttered.

“What?”

“What? Nothing. Just watch the game.”

The rest of the period was uneventful. Neither team scored, and, at the buzzer, a lot of people got up to go to the bathroom or get another beer before the concession stands shut down for the night.

Just as Harry debated whether or not he wanted another drink, he heard a wedding march playing. He and Louis looked up at the jumbotron and saw a woman putting her hands over her mouth in shock. The man she was next to, presumably her boyfriend, got down on one knee, said a few words and presented her with a ring. Harry bit his tongue in annoyance as the girl happily nodded her head. The man put the ring on her finger and the two of them hugged excitedly. The crowd cheered as the announcer congratulated the happy couple and then the screen returned to normal. 

Harry cleared his throat. “You know, when you propose, I hope it's not at a Flyers game in front of 15,000 drunk people.”

But once again, Louis didn't hear him, evidenced by him saying, “Harry, look! There's a fight!”

Sure enough, Harry followed Louis' line of vision, right to one of the lower levels where two men were shoving each other. Harry frowned and looked at Louis, who was focused on watching the men, who were wearing opposite team colors, get pulled apart and escorted out.

“I need another beer,' Harry said, standing up. “Do you want anything?”

“No I'm good,” Louis told him. “Thanks, though.” 

Harry went to the aisle and down the stairs. As he walked, all he could think to himself was, _the universe is truly against me_. 

**April 2018**

 

Once April hit, Harry decided to give it a rest. He’d been dropping engagement hints over the past three months now and Louis still hadn’t picked up on them. He hadn’t even brought up the subject on his own. The problem was, Harry didn’t know if Louis really didn’t understand what Harry meant when he said ‘when you propose,’ or if Louis was just ignoring it.

Harry wondered if his casual ‘if it happens, it happens’ comment the morning after Audrey’s wedding had anything to do with it, and made Louis not want to even mention marriage around Harry because he thought it wasn’t the right time.

He was tired, and figured that if Louis hadn’t picked up on his hints by now, then he never would, and would have to come to the realization on his own.

Harry decided that he needed to actually listen to himself when he said ‘if it happens’ and just let everything happen on its own. What he didn’t know was, that day was coming sooner than he expected.

\---

It was the end of the school day on Friday, and Harry’s spring break had officially begun. All he had to do was wait for Doris and Ernest so he could take them home and then he could relax at home for the next week.

He had his bag packed and ready to go so that as soon as the twins got to his classroom, they could all walk out. So of course, ten minutes after the rest of the school had been dismissed, neither twin had arrived.

Harry frowned and checked his watch. It wasn’t like them to be late. He got up and peeked out into the hallway just as Ernest was turning the corner and headed his way.

Harry let out a sigh of relief. “There you are. Now we just need your sister.”

“Where is she?” Ernest asked.

“I don’t know. I might have to call up front and ask them to make an announcement if she doesn’t show up soon.”

“Yeah, that is weird. Hey, can I ask a favor?”

Harry eyed him suspiciously. “Maybe.”

“Can you just run me by the library? The one here didn’t have this book I needed for my research project and I have to return it. It’s due today.”

“Oh. Sure, that’s no problem.”

“Thanks, bro.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Harry!” Doris came running into the room then. “I need a huge favor. Please.”

“You two are awfully needy today,” Harry said. “On top of being late. This should be good. What is it?”

“I borrowed a necklace from Phoebe and I broke it and I need to get a new one to take home. Please, Harry? Please?”

“Why can’t you just tell her you broke it and that it was an accident?”

“Because I might not have asked her permission to borrow it?”

Harry sighed as Ernest laughed.

“Tell me it was that blue one that she just got! Tell me it was!”

“Maybe,” Doris told him.

“No way!” Ernest laughed even harder. “She’s gonna kill you!”

“Ern, shut up!” Doris yelled, stomping her foot. “Harry, please, take me to buy a new one. I promise I’ll love you more than Ernie.”

“Hey!”

Harry sighed and checked his watch. He should’ve been on his way home by now, but of course, thanks to these two, he wouldn’t be there for at least another hour.

“I guess.”

“Thank you, Harry! You’re the best!”

“Yeah, yeah. Can we go now, though? School’s been out for nearly twenty minutes.”

The twins quickly nodded and they all made their way out of the school.

Harry texted Jay to tell her where they were going before driving over to the town’s public library a few minutes away. When they walked in, Harry thought that Ernest would simply deposit his book in the bin and they could go.

He thought wrong.

“Whoa, look at this!” Ernest rushed over to a shelf near the checkout counter. The library had gotten in new copies of the illustrated Harry Potter books, and _Prisoner of Azkaban_ was right in the center. “I haven’t seen this one yet.”

Harry sighed again. He should’ve known better than to expect a member of Louis’ family to be quick with getting a task done.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Doris announced before walking off.

“E, we have five minutes before we have to go, OK?” Harry said.

“Yeah, OK.” Ernest quite literally brushed Harry off as he walked over to a nearby couch and sat down with the book.

Harry dropped his head forward in defeat and sat with him. He knew how to pick his battles with Ernest – on both a professional and personal level.

A few minutes later, Doris emerged. Seeing Harry and Ernest looking comfortable on the couch, she grabbed a magazine from the rack and took a seat, too.

Harry leaned back and rested his head on top of the couch cushions, listening to the sounds of pages turning and the silence of the library.

He must’ve gotten a little too comfortable, though, because when he opened his eyes, he checked the time and saw that it had been nearly forty-five minutes. He shot up, and luckily, the twins were still with him.

“We have to go. Come on. We still have to find this new necklace, and it’s Friday and I want to go home. Let’s go.”

After convincing Ernest to just check out the Harry Potter book with the promise of bringing him back when it was time to return it, Harry got the twins in the car.

“Now where was this necklace from?” Harry asked as he put his key in the ignition.

“Um…” Doris started. “The mall?”

Harry turned to look at her. “You don’t even know where it’s from?”

Doris shrugged. “No? But, I’m pretty sure it’s from Forever 21. Or… It could be H&M. Or maybe Charming Charlie? Or-”

“OK, let’s just go,” Harry said.

When they got to the mall, it thankfully wasn’t that crowded yet. They got out and headed right for the first store that Doris named: Forever 21.

Harry looked around, unsure of where the fucking jewelry section might be. The store was lit up as brightly as heaven would be, if heaven sold extra small skinny jeans and regular T-shirts with ‘clever’ sayings on them.

Luckily for him, an associate, whose nametag read Chloe, came up to him and asked if he needed help.

“Do I look that lost?” Harry asked, trying to make a joke of it.

She just smiled. “A little bit; yeah.”

“Oh. Well, um, my boyfriend’s sister is just trying to replace a necklace that she broke. D, what did it look like?”

Doris looked at him with wide eyes. “Um… it was, uh…”

“Blue,” Ernest supplied. “And it had a chain.”

“Yeah.”

Chloe looked as confused as Harry felt.

“It’s blue and has a chain?” Chloe asked, wanting to clarify all of the information.

“Yup,” Doris and Ernest said with a nod.

“Um, OK. Well, follow me. Maybe you’ll see something that looks familiar.”

They followed Chloe to the jewelry section and Harry was surprised at how much there was. Right away though, he noticed that there were only a few blue things, and none of them were necklaces.

“Are you sure it was a necklace?” Chloe asked, looking through the racks again.

“Positive,” Doris told her.

“And you’re sure the necklace is from here?”

“Well, no. Not really.”

“Oh. OK. Well, I don’t see anything that’s blue with a chain, so maybe you can check somewhere else? And if you can’t find it, then you can come back and I can check the computers for it?”

“That would be great,” Harry said. “Thank you for your help.”

“Oh, you’re welcome. I hope you find the necklace, though. No matter where it is.”

“Thank you. Have a good one.”

“You, too.”

“Well that was rough,” Harry said as they walked out of the store. “Now where?”

“Uh, Charming Charlie is right over there,” Doris said. She led them into the store, and this time, Harry knew exactly where to go. The store only sold jewelry and accessories, and it was all sorted by color. He went to the first large display table, which had light blue jewelry, and started searching.

“Doris, do you see anything familiar?” Harry asked. However, like brother like siblings, because when Harry looked up, neither of the twins was even at the same shelf as him. They were, instead, looking at a rack of scarves that was a few feet away.

“Psst!” Harry hissed. “Are you trying to find this necklace?”

“Yup,” Doris immediately said. She went to the table next to his, which had dark blue accessories on it. After about ten minutes of looking, Doris sighed. “I don’t see it here, either.”

“OK, well,” Harry started, “it’s already 5:30. I’ll give you one more store, but then I have to take you home. I know your mom wants you home for dinner.”

“Wait, it’s 5:30?” Ernest asked.

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” Doris said. “You know what? I’m sure Phoebe will be fine if I tell her it was an accident. Let’s go home.”

Doris and Ernest started to walk away and Harry just stared in shock.

_What was happening today?_

Speechless, Harry just followed them out of the store.

* * *

* * *

 

The weirdness just continued when Harry dropped them off. From the second he walked into the house with them, he felt strange. First and foremost, everyone was staring at him. Secondly, they were all smiling. It was oddly unsettling.

“Hi, sweetie,” Jay greeted him when she saw him. That was normal. The extra long tight squeeze wasn’t.

“Jay, is everything OK?” Harry whispered.

“Of course it is,” she replied. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know. Just, the twins were acting weird and everyone just looks so _happy_ right now, and-”

“Do you think it’s weird that we’re all happy?”

Harry paused, knowing a trick question when he heard one.

He looked around the room. Dan was standing in the archway leading to the kitchen, Fizzy and Phoebe were smiling down from where they stood at the top of the steps, and Harry could see Daisy on the couch. Doris and Ernest, standing on either side of Jay, tilted their head to the side and waited for Harry’s response.

“Of course not,” Harry said.

“Good. Now that that’s settled, why don’t you head on home? I’m sure you’ve had a long day.”

“Um, yeah. OK.”

Jay ushered Harry out of the house and quickly shut the door behind him.

Harry started walking away and only looked back once. When he did, he was convinced he saw a curtain hurriedly shut, as if someone was watching him.

He just shook his head and got into his car.

* * *

* * *

 

When Harry got to his apartment, he felt too tired to walk in right away. So he stood for a moment with his head pressed against the door with his key in his hand, trying to work up the strength. The two of them had worn him out, keeping him so close to home and yet so far away.

Taking a deep breath, he slid his key into the lock and made his way inside, only to be faced with an apartment with the lights dimmed down low and candles on most of the available surfaces in the living room.

Upon seeing it, Harry felt his heart somehow both stop and pick up speed at the same time.

“Louis?” he called out. He took a few steps forward and heard a crinkling noise. He looked down and saw a piece of paper under his foot. Curious, he dropped his things by the door and locked it behind him. Then he picked up the paper and read, _“Baby, welcome home. I know the apartment looks a little different than it did this morning, and I hope you like it. To your left, you’ll see a very old picture of us. That’s where you’ll start.”_

Harry looked to his left, and indeed saw a picture with a giant yellow star over it. Then he continued reading.

_“Follow the arrows until you get to the end. You’ll know when you’ve reached it. I’ll be waiting for you. I love you. – L.”_

Harry finished the letter, folded it up and put it in his pocket. Now that he looked more closely, he did see all of the other pictures hanging around the living room. Unsure of what else to do, he started with the first picture. It was one that he didn’t remember taking, as he had only been about four at the time, but he had seen it often. He and Louis were standing outside of Jay’s house and both were smiling at the camera. Little Louis wore red shorts with a red, white and blue striped T-shirt, and little Harry had on black pants and an aqua blue T-shirt. They looked adorable, if Harry did say so himself, and it was right around then that they had officially become best friends.

The next picture showed them together at the park, sitting on the swings. After that was a photo of Harry’s first day of Kindergarten. Louis had come over that morning with Jay, told Harry that he was super smart and to have fun at ‘big kid school.’ Then he told him not to make a new best friend and gave him a hug. Harry could actually sort of remember this moment and it still brought a smile to his face.

The next picture showed Harry playing T-ball, and he could see Louis sitting with Anne, Gemma and Jay in the stands behind him, cheering him on. After that was a picture of the boys with the Red Power Ranger at Louis’ sixth birthday party. Then came a picture of them standing by a pool in their bathing suits and floaties on their arms.

And so it went on, picture after picture, memory after memory of Harry and Louis’ joint childhood. There were lots of first days of school, baseball practices at the park with their friends and cheesy poses at parties. Harry saw himself with Louis’ family just as many times as he saw Louis with his. One of his favorites showed the two of them at Anne and Robin’s wedding when Harry was eleven.

 _God, we look awful,_ Harry thought to himself, smiling. Harry had just had another growth spurt, so the height difference between him and Louis was even more noticeable. And his skin had just started breaking out, evidenced by the red spot on his chin.

There were photos of their middle school graduations and first days of high school. There were photos from the Homecoming dance, when Harry was a sophomore and Louis was a freshman. It was the only one they got to experience together before Harry moved away.

It was then that Harry realized that their memories were about to separate.

Now the pictures weren’t in one row anymore, but in two rows, comparing Harry’s experiences to Louis’. The top row had pictures of Harry going to prom, holding up college acceptance letters, graduating high school and participating in typical college activities like attending sports games with his friends and sneaking alcohol in his dorm room before he was old enough to drink it. The bottom row showed the same experiences, but for Louis, ones that Harry wasn’t there for. Harry had seen pictures of Louis’ life after he moved away, but in small doses. Seeing them all now, at one time, really got to him. Louis’ senior prom photo, his high school graduation picture, his first day going to college, his college graduation photos, his first day at his job, all memories that Harry would never get to experience with his boyfriend.

But after that, the photos came back into one row, because now they were together again. There was a photo from Jay’s Christmas party a year and a half ago and of them kissing last New Year’s Eve. There were photos from their trip to Spain last year and at Lottie’s birthday party in August. There was a photo of them at a barbecue that Niall had last summer. Next came a photo of them on a double date with Liam and Sophia and pictures of them in October with Doris and Ernest on a hayride and going pumpkin picking.

Harry looked back toward the very first picture, and he realized just how far they’d come, from little four-year-olds going to day care to having real life jobs and becoming so entwined in each other’s lives it was impossible to tell where one of them ended and the other started. Louis meant so much to him, and it was clear that Louis felt the same about him, that even though there were a few curveballs thrown their way, they were meant to be in each other’s lives.

_Forever._

That word hit Harry like a ton of bricks.

 _This is it,_ Harry realized as he reached the final picture of them, the selfie that Louis had taken of the two of them at Niall’s St. Patrick’s Day party. _What I’ve been waiting for._

But then he turned to his bedroom door and saw one more picture, the one that made it all more real. The [picture](http://media.istockphoto.com/photos/close-up-of-happy-male-gay-couple-holding-hands-picture-id478450828?k=6&m=478450828&s=170667a&w=0&h=-7MKjFdcltmXRW2lhWr5GgG4hnPhYyDXGhOpSDMkJPE=) wasn’t of him and Louis, probably the only one so far, but of two men in tuxedos with their arms linked. Harry was pretty sure what it was supposed to mean.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Harry opened the bedroom door, finding Louis there with a soft smile on his face.

Upon seeing Louis, a single tear rolled down Harry’s face. He was choked up already, and wasn’t sure how he was supposed to survive what was coming next.

“Hi, baby,” Louis whispered. “Do you like your surprise?”

Harry nodded quickly. “I love it.”

After taking a look around the room to make sure there weren’t any more pictures to look at, Harry wiped his eyes and started walking closer to Louis.

“You planned all this?” Harry asked quietly.

Louis nodded. “It’s been in the works for a while now.”

“Since when?”

“Since… October, I guess?”

Harry froze. “What?”

Louis smiled. “Yeah. You see, when we were talking about weddings and marriage in Seattle, it just sort of confirmed what I’d been thinking since our one-year anniversary: you’re the person that I want to be with, and you were just as ready as I was. But the problem was figuring out how to keep the element of surprise, even with all of your little hints, which, by the way, babe, were about as subtle as a freight truck rolling through a church on Palm Sunday.”

Harry laughed. He wiped the tears from his eyes and said, “I just didn’t know what my comments at the wedding did, if they made you think I didn’t want to get married or maybe I wasn’t ready or something. For God’s sake, I said ‘whatever’ at the question of when we were getting married. I got a little nervous, I guess. Maybe I overcompensated for all of it.”

“Maybe. But it’s OK. I like that you know what you want. It’s just one of the many things I love about you.”

Louis reached forward, taking Harry’s hands in his own. “You know what else I love? I love how beautiful you are, both inside and out, even when you’re overthinking things and when your hair is all crazy in the morning.”

Harry’s smile just grew wider.

“I love how funny you are, even if no one else does. You never fail to make me smile, no matter what your joke is. I love how caring you are and how you always make sure that I’m OK, even though it drives me nuts that you somehow think your feelings are more important than mine.”

“I don’t think that.”

“Babe, you kind of do,” Louis said. “And trust me, no one’s feelings are more important than yours. You’re so trusting and loving, and I love that you were so willing to let me into your heart, even after being best friends for half our lives and being apart for nearly as long. I’ve never known a person like you and it almost doesn’t seem fair that I get to call you my boyfriend and my best friend. Hopefully, in a few minutes, I can call you something else.”

Harry let out a sob and looked away for a second, attempting and failing to get his emotions long enough for Louis to ask the damn question.

He looked back when Louis lightly squeezed his hands and Harry turned to see him already smiling widely.

Louis took a deep breath. “Harry, this past year and a half with you has been wonderful, and so perfect and made up for the ten years where I couldn’t see your beautiful smiling face every day, back when I didn’t know I would one day fall in love with you. Because… _God,_ I’m so in love with you.”

Harry felt the tears spring back up in his eyes. “I love you, too,” he whispered. “So much.”

Louis smiled. “Good.” Clearing his throat and dropping Harry’s hands, Louis slowly sunk down to one knee.

Harry gasped and covered his face with his hands, now unable to stop the tears from falling freely down his face.

When he calmed down just enough, he lowered his hands to see Louis looking a bit red-eyed himself.

“Harry,” Louis started, reaching into his pocket, “we’ve been on the same page our entire lives, even when we weren’t together every day. I’ve been nervous about a lot of things, but I’ve never felt more secure in asking this question I’m about to ask you.”

He pulled out a black velvet box and popped it open, revealing a ring. It had a rose gold band with a row of small diamonds lining each outer edge. It was simple and so incredibly beautiful it took Harry’s breath away.

“Louis…”

“Harry, will you marry me?”

Harry giggled. He couldn’t help it; he was feeling so overjoyed that, despite all of his ‘casual’ hints and general over-the-top antics the past few months, Louis still wanted to be with him, and, even more, marry him.

He looked away from the ring and up to Louis’ grinning, happy face and wondered how he got to be so lucky to call this man his.

“Yes,” Harry said, feeling more excited at that moment than at any other time in his life. “Yes, of course I will.”

Louis jumped up and pulled the ring from the box. He took Harry’s hand in his own and pulled off the silver rose ring before slowly sliding the engagement ring onto his finger, sighing when it was perfectly in place.

“I love you,” Harry said easily.

“I love you, too.” Louis took Harry’s face in his hands and pulled him down to him, slotting their lips together in a soft kiss. Harry wrapped his arms around Louis, pulling him close, unwilling to let any space come between him and his _fiancé._

Louis ran his thumbs softly over Harry’s cheeks before moving his arms to lay lazily around Harry’s shoulders.

With a sigh, Harry pulled back but rested his forehead against Louis’. “I can’t believe you planned all of this,” he said.

“I had a lot of help,” Louis admitted. “Where do you think I got all the pictures? By the way, our moms are expecting a phone call within the hour.”

Harry chuckled. “Of course they are. Is this why the twins had me running errands with them today?”

“Obviously. I needed them to keep you out so I had time to set up. Did you see how many pictures there were? It took time, babe.”

“Anything else you did?”

Louis thought back over the last few months. “Uhh… Well, I totally knew what you were doing when you ‘accidentally’ pulled up that website about the best proposals or whatever. Oh, and that wedding magazine? You put that in with the mail, right?”

Harry blushed. “Maybe.”

“Yeah, I knew that was you. And when you mentioned taking off your rose ring when I proposed, I didn’t actually bite my tongue.”

“Shut up!”

Louis laughed and shook his head. “Nah, I didn’t. But I know you hate the sight of blood, so if I asked if it was bleeding, you wouldn’t want to actually check it.”

Harry sighed. “Anything else? What about when we watched _Bride Wars_?”

“Oh. No, actually I think I really was just tired that night.”

“Sure you were.”

“I was. I did luck out with that fight at the Flyers game, though. I didn’t know how else to get out of that one besides just walking away.”

“You wouldn’t just walk away!” Harry said.

“Oh, I definitely would have!”

Harry just shook his head. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

“See, this may just be the first time we’re not on the same page. Why wouldn’t I do all of this for you? You’ve been… _everything_ to me for the longest time. It only makes sense.”

Harry blushed. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. But thank you, though,” Louis started, “for confirming that you’re the person I thought you were, but also making me wonder if you knew the kind of person I am.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, did you really think I would want our engagement broadcasted on the jumbotron at a Flyers game? Really, babe?”

Harry laughed. “I was just keeping all my bases covered, babe.”

“Just another thing I love about you.”

\---

Later that night, as they lay in bed after their second round, Louis brought up something he couldn’t wait to mention.

“Do you remember when I told you I was proposing?”

Harry lifted his head off Louis’ bare chest, giving him with a grumpy stare. “Excuse me?”

“I guess that’s a ‘no.’”

“When did you ever tell me you were going to propose?”

“The night of Niall’s St. Patrick’s Day party. I got you home when you were absolutely shitfaced and you started whining and asking if I wanted to get married, and if I wanted to marry you.”

Harry clapped a hand over his mouth. “I did not!”

“Oh, yeah, you did. I wish I had recorded it. You were so cute.”

“Shut up.”

Louis ignored Harry and continued. “You kept saying, ‘Ask me! Just ask me!’ And then I told you that I was waiting for the ring to get back from the jeweler and when I did, I had something wonderful planned for you.” Louis chuckled. “I knew you wouldn’t remember.”

“God, and you still wanted to marry me? After all that?”

“Of course. I always want to marry you.”

Harry shifted around so he could move up enough to give Louis a soft kiss. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Louis said. “So… are we thinking a destination wedding?”

“With us? I think we probably should.”

“Hmm… Have any ideas?”

Harry thought about it for a second. “Hmm… Not yet. But give it some time. We’ll come up with something.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fingers crossed you enjoyed that as much as I did! Please leave comments and Kudos if you did!  
> If you liked it, maybe you can reblog this [post](http://flamboyantommo.tumblr.com/post/160230603952) I made!  
> If you don't like mine, you can reblog the [post](http://wonderdaysoflunacy.tumblr.com/post/160266998705/title-curveball-author-kikikryslee-word) that [Jess](http://wonderdaysoflunacy.tumblr.com/) made for me, too!  
> Hit me up on [twitter](http://twitter.com/angelique_lee) or [tumblr](http://www.flamboyantommo.tumblr.com/) if you feel like it! If you follow me on either, let me know who you are so I definitely follow you back!  
> <3


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